Transitions Over the Life Course: Lessons from Age-Set Societies

Abstract

This study examines processes of life-course transitions in 21 African age-set societies, a group of preliterate societies where age is a major organizing principle, and compares processes of transition there with those in the United States today. The analysis challenges some longheld views about the putative smooth course of passage throught the life course in simple societies and troubled transitions in the United States. Despite the contrasting societal contexts, in both types of society transitions constitute immanent sources of tension: for the individual, conflicts between old and new roles and for the society, competition for rewarding roles. But in both contexts mechanisms emerge that serve to mitigate some transition difficulties. Even the processes of transition themselves are subject to change as a result of individual and societal adaptations to transitional problems and to social and environmental change. Some theoretical implications of these findings are explored.